<p>Do you have a link? I couldn’t find anything on this with a quick search.</p>
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<p>I agree. My son asked me why people don’t evacuate and I gave some lame reasons but there was plenty of notice and evidence on how bad this storm would be. We took the recommended precautions where we were even though I felt that we wouldn’t be affected. I saw all of the preparations that parents and children on this board were taking and am a bit surprised when others don’t do the same.</p>
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<p>I’d agree though one can understand their sense of loss and how they are going through a hard time. It seems to me that they did have the means to evacuate and avoid this tragedy. I think that the folks on this board started preparing on Thursday, several days before.</p>
<p>I didn’t have much opinion about the marathon yesterday. Now after seeing photos on SI, I think NY mayor lost his mind. Not just logistics of the maratrhon, precious resources will be diverted from recovery efforts. You can’t buy lost time and resources with money right now.</p>
<p>I would like a link to that story as well. I had just figured that people didn’t answer their doors to her pleas because they had already evacuated and the houses were empty.</p>
<p>I read that she tried to get a guy in or around a house to help her but he wouldn’t. This was several days ago. I don’t know exactly what the situation was but I’d be pretty cautious about walking into water high and fast enough to sweep people and vehicles away. The power of water can be deceptive. I don’t know whether the guy was in shape or had physical injuries or whether or not he could swim.</p>
<p>The search and rescue type operations that I’ve seen typically involve equipment to secure the rescuer to a fixed point and have someone else to reel the rescuer in. I generally don’t see a rescuer going into fast-moving and deep water to try to rescue someone. If the person hits something at those speeds, then they could be injured or killed too.</p>
<p>Per the CNN story she had to abandon her car at the height of the storm, spent hours clinging the roots of a downed tree with her two preschoolers then somehow made her way to the man’s nearby house. According to her she banged on the front door begging to be let in but he refused. She then got to the back patio where she tried unsuccessfully to break a window with a ceramic planter. The kids were swept out of her arms and have now been found drowned. </p>
<p>The man’s story is that no one came to the front door and a man demanding to be let in tried to break his back window but he “couldn’t help them”. He had some lame excuse about the mayor saying not to endanger search and rescue personnel by going out in the storm. He looked like a real piece of work.</p>
<p>I agree with consolation. This guy’s gonna be a pariah in his neighborhood.</p>
<p>I dont know why any one particular person did not evacuate as advised, but around here where we get serious storms often(surrounded by water, both the bay and the ocean-even two inhabitied islands), I can tell you that folks are reluctant to evacuate for many reasons. Usually they disregard the hype of the media, for ages we have weathered storms-bad ones. The old timers will tell you that they are staying with the “ship” (lots of captains around here). For centuries their gut instinct has served them well. Many of them stayed put during Sandy, it wasnt pretty! At dark on Monday night, they was a deluge of rescue calls that the guard couldnt respond to because it was too dangerous. Spend a long night waiting for daybreak so they could begin search and rescue. heartbreaking and scary!</p>
<p>My own folks refused to leave until it was almost too late. The water (storm and tidal) came up so fast and furious (over 12 inches in 5 mins time) that it chased them out of their home. This was noon on Monday before the worse of the storm hit. So for whatever reason: hard headed, dismissive, or naive, folks dont evacuate. Regardless my sympathies go out to everyone. AND I’m betting that folks respond differently in the future. Its just like most things - until it has touched you, you think it cant or wont.</p>
<p>Okay, the video paints a considerably different picture.</p>
<p>The woman claims that her car fell into a hole and she got her kids out and was hanging onto a tree and went to the guy’s house and tried to get in but the homeowner wouldn’t let them in. She went to the back of her property where her two sons were swept away by the water. She broke his back window to try to get him to help.</p>
<p>He denies that he saw or heard anyone asking for help. He said that he did see someone in the back throw a flowerpot through his window but said that it was a man. The situation was that it was pouring rain outside with winds at 90 MPH. I imagine that this would be pretty loud. My son’s apartment had winds of 35 MPH with gusts to 45 MPH and heavy rain and said that it got pretty loud.</p>
<p>The police wanted to charge the guy with not helping but not helping isn’t a crime there. It’s also a case of what he said vs what she said. I do think that it’s insane to be driving around in 90 MPH winds. Our state Governor urged motorists to get off the roads at 3:00 PM on Monday afternoon when the winds reached 30 MPH.</p>
As some of you know, I am from Staten Island, so I will weigh in on this story. If you don’t want to read ugly, skip this post.</p>
<p>The area in question is so low that it floods if you spit. It also has very limited sewers, few sidewalks and is comprised of what used to be summer bungalows that were winterized. It is physically as ugly an area as you will ever see, except the beach. There is no reason on God’s earth for anyone living there not to evacuate. It ALWAYS floods and there are no sewers. Did I mention that? This neighborhood was in the news a couple of years ago because a former convent was sold to a Muslim organization that wanted to build community center. In light of the fact that the area is what is known euphemistically as an ethnic enclave,that didn’t go over well, and the Muslim group was chased out to find another location. Some of the Catholic schools also teach only Italian and have classes in Italian culture. Did anyone see the episode of David Tutera’s “My Fair Wedding” that was held on the the beach with the drapes? Gorgeous. Filmed in that neighborhood. We happened to be flying a kite on the beach when another wedding was held. Orthodox Jewish. Coming from the venue to the beach, the bridal party must cross the public boardwalk.When the bride came across, the lovely people wouldn’t let her pass. Then screamed slurs down on the ceremony. When I first got married, I lived at the next beach over. Was warned that my black or hispanic friends shouldn’t come into the neighborhood.</p>
<p>Have you seen a photo of the mother who lost her children?</p>
<p>'I agree with consolation. This guy’s gonna be a pariah in his neighborhood."</p>
<p>The fact is that the mother should have evacuated when told to. It is her fault that her children drowned, not the man in the house. She put her children in danger of losing their lives and paid the tragic consequence of her decision.</p>
<p>^I assume you’re telling us she’s of the brown variety. Wow.</p>
<p>Of course she shouldn’t have been out in the storm. She should have evacuated early and the deaths of her sons are something she’ll have to live with for the rest of her life. </p>
<p>On the other hand, how do you refuse to help someone trapped in a deadly storm? The man in question appears young and healthy. Personally, I can’t imagine refusing to open my door to anyone under those circumstances.</p>
<p>She had already gotten them out of the car seats. They were with her on the man’s back patio when they were swept out of her arms by flood waters. As far as I can tell, all he had to do was unlock the door.</p>
<p>According to CNN story, boys were swept away while she was seeking help. In the above link, she sought help because the boys were swept away. Does anyone know which is the case? </p>
<p>"Police said the 39-year-old mother had driven from her flooded home toward her sister’s house in Brooklyn when the car became stuck about 6:10 p.m. Monday, forcing her to confront the rising water and the relentless cadence of pounding waves as she clung to her boys’ arms.</p>
<p>“As the water swelled she lost her grip of her children and they were swept away,” police said in a release.</p>
<p>Kelly said the mother “was totally, completely distraught. She started looking for them herself, asking people to help her look.”</p>
<p>After the boys disappeared, police said, Moore fled and in a panic climbed fences and went door-to-door looking in vain for help in a neighborhood that was presumably largely abandoned in the face of the storm."</p>
<p>From my reading of the various stories it sounds like both are true-she tried to get into one man’s house with her kids, then after they were pulled from her arms she tried to go door to door to get help to search for them.</p>